How to answer: “Why Do You Want to Leave Your Current Job?”
One of the first rules of job interviewing is to never bad mouth anyone, especially a current or previous employer (even if they deserve it). That is one of the many reasons why this question is sneaky and lousy.
Your reasons for wanting to leave (or not) have nothing to do with the company you’re interviewing with and what you can do for them, but many interviewers still think this question is beneficial so you need to be ready with an answer.
Here are two different ways to answer this interview question. Obviously, adjust as needed.
- If you NEED to get out of your current company:
“It’s been a great [5] years at [ABC Company]. I’ve learned a lot, worked with great people, and I’m simply ready to move on to a new challenge in a new industry/company. The role here caught my attention and I’m excited to learn more.”
- If you’re content at your current company:
“I’m not necessarily looking to leave my current role. I saw this role and it looked really interesting and I’m here to learn more to see if there is potentially mutually interest.”
Either one of those answers is more than sufficient for this question. Use whichever one works for you and answer confidently.
Life would be better if more honesty were socially acceptable, I agree. It is certainly more adult to rise above the bad behaviors of our past company.
How to answer if you are being fired or fear you may be soon?
I hate this society that we are living in and the deeper that is getting into to be hippocrates to answer job questions. I will prefer to hired some one who bad mouth his company if he/she have the reason to do so...
Wanted to try something different
That's great
It depends on what jobs you are looking. While these are professional answers, I often found that employers feel that they did not get any answer from you (which mean you did not answer anything). Given some insights will give clue whether you are good fit to this potential company you will be working. It is, however, very important not to say anything bad about your previous employer. If you need to vet, vet to your friends or whoever before you have the interview. If you are laid off from Covid-19 (many of us are impacted due to it) simply just state so. You can also said how great you were as an employee while working there, but business is business that you understand about the difficult situation employer faced to let you go. Some version of truth is good, but still need to make sure is positive.